This paper presents the editorial for the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews joint special issue devoted to the research work discussed and presented at the 11th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES), held from the 4th September to the 9th September 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal and the 2nd South East European (SEE) SDEWES Conference held from June 15th to June 18th, 2016 in Piran, Slovenia. This special issue is in line with the journal's aim of publishing research from across the ever-broadening field of renewable and sustainable energy with a strong review element. Previous SDEWES conference special issues have gathered a significant knowledge base in the field of sustainable development that reflects the continuous research efforts of the SDEWES research community. Therefore, this editorial provides not only an overview of the papers published in this particular special issue, but also a wider overview of the current trends in the domain of sustainable and renewable energy. This year's special issue focuses particularly on the benefits of the bio-based economy, energy security issues, fossil fuel thermal plant alternatives and environmental constraints, district heating and cooling together with cross sector energy efficiency and energy conservation issues. Sustainable transport systems, the issue of fuel poverty in urban neighbourhoods and renewable energy to support development of peripheral rural areas, optimising passive building design for hot climates and solar-powered heating and cooling are further topics featured in this special issue. In the process of selecting papers for this special issue, the guest editors invited in total 23 extended manuscripts for consideration for publication. After a rigorous review process by expert reviewers overseen by the guest editors a total of 16 articles were accepted for publication.

本文介绍了9月4日至9月9日举行的第11届能源，水和环境系统可持续发展大会（SDEWES）上讨论和介绍的可再生能源与可持续能源评论联合特刊的社论。 2016年在葡萄牙里斯本举行的2016年第二届东南欧（SEE）SDEWES会议于2016年6月15日至6月18日在斯洛文尼亚的皮兰举行。本期特刊与该杂志发表具有强大评论元素的，跨越不断发展的可再生能源和可持续能源领域的研究的宗旨相吻合。上届SDEWES会议的特殊问题已经在可持续发展领域积累了重要的知识基础，反映了SDEWES研究界的不断研究成果。所以，这篇社论不仅概述了本期特刊中发表的论文，而且还更广泛地概述了可持续和可再生能源领域的当前趋势。今年的特刊特别着重于基于生物的经济，能源安全问题，化石燃料热电厂替代品和环境限制，区域供热和制冷以及跨部门能源效率和节能问题的利益。可持续运输系统，城市社区的燃料贫乏问题和支持周边农村地区发展的可再生能源问题，针对炎热气候以及太阳能供暖和制冷优化被动式建筑设计是本期特刊的主题。在为此特刊选择论文的过程中，客座编辑共邀请了23篇扩展手稿供出版。经过由来宾编辑监督的专家评审员的严格评审过程，总共接受了16篇文章发表。